OH NO, IT'S A MONDAY AGAIN!.... OH NO, IT'S DE JA VU ALL OVER AGAIN!

Drat. I have to do penitence for overconsumption of alcohol...again.

This weekend we had the Macau conference, with partners from all over the world flying in to give lectures and have some fun. The associates, on the other hand, were dragged into it screaming and kicking. In situations like this, I find that the best way of ensuring survival is to drink along with the rest of them. Which is why at 1 am on Friday night I was conducting a national anthem contest in the hotel bar - the Hong Kong Chinese couldn't remember the lyrics of the Chinese national anthem but hummed along as best as they could, while the Americans barely made it past the first three bars of theirs (all of them being male meant some of the high notes were just unreachable), and yours truly finished all of the Korean anthem. This basically means I was plastered. Completely. I know this as a matter of fact, because I found myself counselling the trainees on their love lives in the ladies' loo at 2 am. I mean, what do I know about giving advice on love?! I finally left three 'hardcore' drinkers propping up the bar to go into my room to be sick.

The next morning, out of the Fab Four who had stayed up the latest, three people (including myself) were 'looking like rats', as one associate put it, and were disgracefully late for the lectures which started at 9am. The Australian girl who did not look like a rat went around telling everyone else that we three were wimps. She looked as fresh as a daisy, as if she had had more than eight hours' sleep. I decided to wait a while until I looked more presentable, so I had three pieces of French toast with syrup, fruit, yoghurt, scrambled eggs and cereal before entering the lecture hall. I think I was the only one who straggled in more than an hour late. Oh well.

At break time some of the audience who had participated in the national anthem contest admitted to feeling a little bit off colour. One guy went around holding a bottle of aspirin. I fell asleep on the sofas in the lounge during lunch and had to be woken up by the trainees.

M. tells me there is no excuse for such intoxication. I know, I know. I won't do it again (for a while). I won't even go to any more conferences. Really, I won't.